creatures! Oh,
it's horrible! Maurice, take me away." And she burst into a passion of
weeping. "I can't help it, ma'am," says Burgess, rudely, ashamed. "It
ain't my fault."

"She's nervous," says Frere, leading her away. "You must excuse her.
Come and lie down, dearest."

"I will not stay here longer," said she. "Let us go to-morrow."

"We can't," said Frere.

"Oh, yes, we can. I insist. Maurice, if you love me, take me away."

"Well," said Maurice, moved by her evident grief, "I'll try."

He spoke to Burgess. "Burgess, this matter has unsettled my wife, so
that she wants to leave at once. I must visit the Neck, you know. How
can we do it?"

"Well," says Burgess, "if the wind only holds, the brig could go
round to Pirates' Bay and pick you up. You'll only be a night at the
barracks."

"I think that would be best," said Frere. "We'll start to-morrow,
please, and if you'll give me a pen and ink I'll be obliged."

"I hope you are satisfied," said Burgess.

"Oh yes, quite," said Frere. "I must recommend more careful supervision
at Point Puer, though. It will never do to have these young blackguards
slipping through our fingers in this way."

So a neatly written statement of the occurrence was appended to the
ledgers in which the names of William Tomkins and Thomas Grove were
entered. Macklewain held an inquest, and nobody troubled about them any
more. Why should they? The prisons of London were full of such Tommys
and Billys.

* * * * *

Sylvia passed through the rest of her journey in a dream of terror. The
incident of the children had shaken her nerves, and she longed to be
away from the place and its associations. Even Eaglehawk Neck with its
curious dog stages and its "natural pavement", did not interest her.
McNab's blandishments were wearisome. She shuddered as she gazed
into the boiling abyss of the Blow-hole, and shook with fear as the
Commandant's "train" rattled over the dangerous tramway that wound
across the precipice to Long Bay. The "train" was composed of a number
of low wagons pushed and dragged up the steep inclines by convicts, who
drew themselves up in the wagons when the trucks dashed down the slope,
and acted as drags. Sylvia felt degraded at being thus drawn by human
beings, and trembled when the lash cracked, and the convicts answered to
the sting--like cattle. Moreover, there was among the foremost of these
beasts of burden a face t